Secret Santa Reviews 2022

[Libigage]

The citrus pale ales sent to Libigage and Starseeker were both mine. Glad you both enjoyed them. The citrus hops - cascade and prima Donna were both home grown so I was only guessing quantities.

Thank you for your beer, I have my own cascade plant and did a smash with it the first year, it was awful, so I left it for 6 months and it became quite drinkable but not brilliant. Any advice on home grown hops would be appreciated. Happy new year

 

[Libigage]

The citrus pale ales sent to Libigage and Starseeker were both mine. Glad you both enjoyed them. The citrus hops - cascade and prima Donna were both home grown so I was only guessing quantities.

What quantities did you use please, I think I over did it

 

[Cwrw666]

Okay, it was a 20 L brew.
The only grains was 7 Lb pale malt plus 8 Oz of sugar.
Hop schedule was 40g EKG 75m, 28g cascade 30m, and 28g prima Donna 0m.
Yeast was CML hog norsk
Oh - 1046 Fg - 1010 ABV - 4.7%

Hope that's a help. Sorry about the imperial grain measures.

 

[Begbie]

At last, my review of my 2nd SS - Son of a Nutcracker Festive Red Ale at 6.2%. Apologies to the sender for the delay.

I used a nucleated pint glass for this one. It poured with a perfect off white head that remained until the last sip. The colour was a brilliant deep reddy copper brown and crystal clear. Aroma was sweet, soft malty with some toffee notes. Taste was amazing! It was malty/toffee and a nice yummy mouthfeel.

This is going to sound strange, but the beer reminded me of something that I've not had for years - Newcastle Brown Ale or Belhaven Best? I realise they're not Red Ales, but there must be something common in the brew that gives me that taste...or I've just got a terrible palate!

Anyway, I thought the beer was great - aroma, taste, carbonation and mouthfeel all ticking the boxes. Well done to the sender.

Finally, now that my two reviews are complete, a big thanks to @Alastair70 for organising.

 

[Alastair70]

Thank-you for the very kind reviews @Libigage and @Begbie. Son of a Nutcracker was my American Amber “Two Llamas” rebranded for swap anonymity, the second iteration of an AA recipe that’s in development. I was a bit heavy handed with the hop additions, taking it towards Red IPA territory as @Libigage picked up. Recipe below, you easily could scale back to come out at 5% ABV without losing much in the finished beer, but pull the IBU’s back to account for the lower OG.

Vitals: OG 1.056, FG 1.009, ABV 6.1, IBU 38, EBC 28
23L batch, balanced water profile
Grain: 4.5kg pale malt, 450g Vienna Malt, 400g CaraMunich III, 400g CaraAmber, 100g low colour chocolate malt
Hops:
60min- 4g Centennial.
30min and 15min - 5g each Centennial and Citra.
5min - 7g each Centennial and Citra
Hopstand - 30min at 75C - 30g each Centennial and Citra
Dry Hop - 14g each Centennial and Citra
Yeast
US-05 equivalent of your choice-I think I used CML-Five on this brew

PS: I’d definitely a very amateur brewer

 

[Moe]

Apologies for the delay @DocAnna in reviewing my second SS beer. I wasn’t very well last week so I drank this on Monday evening. I had a hectic start to the new year at work so not had chance to post.

I finally drank the dark and strong ale, it was a belter of a beer. A really dark coppery colour. The aroma was full on treacly and the flavour was amazing; caramelly and fruity. The bitterness was perfect to balance the sweetness.

A proper sipper and a beer to savour. I am very glad I saved this to enjoy with a slice of cake- it was the perfect companion.

Thank you very much.

 

[Moe]

My first secret Santa beer. A nice golden ale, pours with good carbonation,nice soft white head which lasts the full glass. Golden with good clarity.
Really nice aroma, I am getting citra but could be wrong.
Again really nice flavour of this beer, more body than you would expect. Really soft with a low bitterness.
Really enjoyed this and it didn't last to long, great lacing in the glass as well. Probably more body than expected pushing it towards a pale ale. Not that it matters because it's a gone.
Cheers and merry Christmas
View attachment 79830
View attachment 79831

That was mine, glad you enjoyed it

Good shout on the Citra- it’s Citra and Galaxy

 

[Moe]

I’ve finally opened the first of my 2 beers. A 4.2% golden ale. It’s lovely and clear. Didn’t have much head, but the retention and lacing is surprisingly good.
View attachment 79846
It’s nice and well balanced. There’s a little bitterness that just lingers on the back of the tongue and just a hint of citrus. Lightly carbonated but perfect for style.

Definitely enjoyed this one.

That was mine, glad you enjoyed it

 

[DocAnna]

Apologies for the delay @DocAnna in reviewing my second SS beer. I wasn’t very well last week so I drank this on Monday evening. I had a hectic start to the new year at work so not had chance to post.

I finally drank the dark and strong ale, it was a belter of a beer. A really dark coppery colour. The aroma was full on treacly and the flavour was amazing; caramelly and fruity. The bitterness was perfect to balance the sweetness.

A proper sipper and a beer to savour. I am very glad I saved this to enjoy with a slice of cake- it was the perfect companion.

Thank you very much.

I'm glad you liked it, I'm going to try to brew the 2021 version again sometime as I think that was better, I'll try to remember to send you a sample to try when I do eventually get round to it :)

 

[Justin Dean]

Seen one review of my beer and worried one did not. Happy to replace if so

 

[DocAnna]

I've only just let Alastair know that I only received one Secret Santa parcel, I didn't want to seem needy after having received such a generous single parcel. I do now appreciate that someone might have sent something and not known it didn't arrive, sorry about that.

 

[Justin Dean]

Let me be elf and send something for you. Leave it with me. HNY2023

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

My Secret Santa Bonus beer from a very generous Santa. Apols for the late review but I'm not drinking in the week this month (ooooer) so I've had to wait to try it!

This is described as a "Modern Sour", which is not a description I'm familiar with. Pours nicely with just a slight haze, and it's got a refreshing level of carbonation.

I must admit that sours aren't at all my thing, so I was a little concerned I wouldn't like it - however straight away on the first sip I was lgreatly relieved that the sourness here is a fairly gentle element of the overall flavour. Congratulations Santa: you've produced a 'sour' that I'm actually enjoying drinking

Oddly, I'm finding it hard to place the other flavours I'm getting in this: they are quite unusual. Almost like a hint of citrus peel or maybe crabapple - but with a bit of fragrance: lychee, maybe?

Thanks for sharing such an intriguing beer. Again, sorry again for the late review!

 

[Jon1961]

Sorry for the delay. I haven’t felt like drinking so far this year.

Anyway this Dark Rock Espresso Stout is delicious. Little or no head, but tasted great. Nice body, noticeable but subtle coffee flavour, and bitterness. Very drinkable indeed. Thank you!

 

[The drunken cyclist]

Jaipur clone
This was the second bottle to go with the rather lovely ace of spades porter
This opened with a small phsst and poured with a nice white head
Appearance was quite hazy ( I presume dry hopped?)
Aroma was very fruity And first taste was complex and quite bitter with medium mouth feel
Unfortunately the photo has made the beer look quite dark,it wasn't
Thanks for sharing
Happy New year everyone

And thanks to Alistair for organising

 

[MickDundee]

@The-Engineer-That-Brews @starseeker The Vienna lager and sour were both mine.

TETB, the flavour you were picking up in the sour, which SS thought was pear, is actually Percy Pig sweets. This was V1 of my Percy Pig Sour (V2 will be coming this summer) - 3 bags of sweets in the boil and 2 bottles of Percy Pig smoothie in secondary. No hops used at all, and I used the Philly Sour yeast. I’d like it more “Percy forward” so I’ll be upping the pigs next time.

Vienna Lager was more traditional - around 75% Vienna and 25% Munich. Hops were Magnum and hallertau mittelfruh, and the yeast was Lallemand Diamond.

Glad you both enjoyed them.

 

[The drunken cyclist]

@Broken Toe @Fazzer
The chocolate stout was mine
Thanks for the nice reviews,this was the first bottle swap I've participated in so was quite apprehensive
Glad you enjoyed them

 

[Griff097]

@SMP Brewery @The drunken cyclist

As all my reviews are in I will hold my hands up to my 'efforts as Alistair puts it Lol

The Ace of Spades porter is a kit from the Malt Miller, it's a pint I really enjoy myself so I am glad you enjoyed it and yes it was bottled off a keg

The Jaipur clone was the bonus beer, it's a CML kit, I enjoyed the taste, I haven't had Jaipur for a while but it reminded me of it, if not quite there, I noticed after receiving it there was an option for Simcoe and Cascade to be dry hopped, but they aren't supplied so it didn't happen.
Strangely the hazyness remained throughout the keg and it didn't clear, but didn't affect the taste.

Glad you enjoyed them, I always enjoy sampling other people's beer, but alas find trying to brew and get parcels sent out at that time of year a bit stressful as I always seem to be busy with work, looking forward to next year's swaps already

 

[Justin Dean]

SS2022 has once again been a massive sucess. Well done @Alastair70

 

[Alastair70]

SS2022 has once again been a massive sucess. Well done @Alastair70

Thanks Justin, and thank you to everyone who took part. I think we’re 3 reviews away from a full house,

I’ll post end of year round up next weekend.